“The Interior Ministry meant to alert officers [in the CSF] that Egypt is passing through a state of war similar to the war of ‘attrition’ conducted by Egypt, after the 1967 setback,” former assistant to the Minister of Interior, Major General Mohamed Nour El-Din, told Daily News Egypt.

Nour El-Din asserted that CSF officers are not trained to handle the heavy weaponry allocated to the department. Other police forces do not have access to military grade weaponry.

On Saturday night 15 police officers and soldiers were killed in an attack that targeted a security checkpoint situated in the southern of Al-Arish city of North Sinai.

In an official statement, the Ministry of Interior said that 15 personnel were killed in a mortar attack in Al-Safaa camp.

The “Islamic State”-affiliated group ‘Sinai Province’ released a statement in which it claimed responsibility for the attack.